So, it’s come to this. Whether you’ve outgrown the acceptable age to still be carrying about that baby face or you’ve decided to add a little bit of masculine shape to your jawline, you’ve decided it’s about time to have a pop at growing a beard.

It’s not quite as simple as just letting your facial hair run riot across your jaw though. Everyone and their dog has an opinion on exactly how to grow a beard the best, the fastest and the fullest, so it’s about time someone cut through the bollocks once and for all.

Choose Your Style

The best thing you can do from the outset of growing any beard is determining exactly what kind of beard you want to grow. Look at the shape of your face, look at your favourite celebrities, take inspiration from just about anywhere. Regardless of what style you choose, a beard that’s been tailored to the way you look will always look far better than letting a scraggly, untamed mess appear across your jawline.

Accept That You’re Powerless

There’s something that we need to stress, and something that you need to accept. Some people just aren’t made to have beards. This doesn’t mean that you might not have the constitution to go through with it, we mean that some people just aren’t physically capable of growing thick beards.

Regardless of what people will claim, there’s no medical proof that copious shaving or trimming can make your beard grow faster or thicker, and while things like beard oil or beard balm may help tame and condition the hairs that you can grow, they won’t aid you in growing a beard in any way.

Accepting this means to accept that you may have thinner patches, thicker patches, and ultimately, a beard that isn’t ever going to get you on the cover of Lumberjack Weekly.The only thing that will ever fix any kind of subpar beard, whether it be patchy or uneven, is time and patience. There’s nothing wrong with this though. Choose the beard that suits your face and your capacity for growth, and ultimately, you can’t go wrong.

Commit To A Healthy Way Of Life

As thoroughly wanky as it sounds, a thick and full beard will become a reflection of your lifestyle. We’re not saying that you should become an artisan leather crafter, but rather that by definition, a thick, full beard grows much easier when you lead a healthier lifestyle. While nothing will help speed up your hair growth, things like your diet, sleep and skincare will all effect the health of the facial hair you do grow.

Healthy fats and fish oil help to ensure healthier hair, while exercising and lifting weights can help boost your natural levels of testosterone, kicking into gear the genetic engine that ultimately facilitates good beard growth. As with any type of personal progress, poor sleep, poor diet and stress will get you nowhere fast.

Keep Your Beard In Good Nick From The Outset

There’s one ultimate reality every beardsman has to face at one point or another. Your beard will become irritating as hell as you grow it out. It will itch. It will develop flyaways that require constant care. You will start to get scraggly moustache hairs straying into your mouth. These are all facts which you can do nothing about, and ultimately you need to resist the urge to scratch fiddle or fuck with your beard in just about any way.

Doing so will introduce additional dirt and oil from your hands into the already sensitive skin that’s trying its darndest to push hair out of follicles that have never been used before, making it way more prone to pimples, rashes, ingrown hairs and ultimately, even more irritation. Keep the skin around your beard clean, and as it begins to grow out, use a light, oil-free moisturiser to help keep both skin and facial hair soft, supple and soothed.

Once you’ve started growing some decent stubble, you can begin to integrate different products to help not only condition and soften your beard, but also to style it. In the initial stages of growing your beard, this may be as simple as starting to condition your beard in the shower whenever you do the same with your hair. As it grows out a little more though, the skin underneath will start to get drier, and ultimately the entire area will start to demand the same amount of care as the hair on your head.

Beard oil is the best all-in-one solution for this, helping to restore the natural oils that keep your beard feeling soft and healthy. Generally made with Argan or Jojoba oil (and other fragrances), beard oil can be combed through just about any time, onto any length of beard whenever it starts to feel dry and itchy. For longer beards, beard balm is the answer.

Beard balm is a thicker product that acts not only as a heavy-duty moisturiser for longer beards (and the skin underneath), but also as a light styling solution to tame scraggly hairs, split ends and flyaways. If you’ve been watching a lot of Peaky Blinders and feel like a moustache may be the way forward for you, moustache wax can also come in dead handy for conditioning and holding your mo in proper shape.

Trim & Shape

Once you’ve settled on the length and style of your beard, the only thing left to do is carefully groom it to keep it looking its best. The advice of a good barber is absolute gold when it comes to styling any beard, and most will offer beard trim and shaping services that you’d be mad to pass up.

Of course, there’s plenty you can do in making sure your beloved growth is looking its most handsome day-to-day. Combing on a regular basis is supreme in making sure your beard grows and holds the exact shape that you want, after which a pair of thin-nose scissors should assist in taking care Keep a close razor nearby to shape the hair around your cheeks and neckline, being careful not to let any substantial facial hair cross into neckbeard territory.